POOR WATER MANAGEMENT UNDER NREGS

Edition-2

Implementing water management works under NREGA, on the scale envisaged, has posed major challenges. Corruption in the implementation is rampant. Till March

2001, some 1,138 complaints related to irregularities in implementation of NREGA activities were received, with maximum reported cases from the state of Uttar Pradesh.

Field evidences suggested that spending on some of the water management works has not only been inadequate, but also unwise. For instance, ponds have been dug in areas with scanty rainfall, without conceptualization of factors such as catchments area & sources of recharging (NCAER-PIF, 2009). As matter of fact, residual catchments are hard to find in naturally water scarce regions, where already a large number of small and large water impounding structures exists, including those which are traditional and modern. The flows generated from the natural catchments are already committed for the small & large reservoirs downstream (Kumar et al., 2008).

AS TELL IN The Great Indian Dream

POOR WATER MANAGEMENT UNDER NREGS

Edition-1

National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).

Works related to water & soil conservation afforestation & land development are given top priority under the NREGS. The water management (WM) works specifically includes: a) Water conservation & Water harvesting, b) Drought proofing, c) Irrigation canals, d) Provision of irrigation facility to land owned by households belonging to SC/ST or to land of the beneficiaries of land reforms/Indira Awas Yojana/BPL families, e) Renovation of traditional water bodies, f) land development, & g) Flood-Control & protection works (Government of India, 2008). During the three-year time period (2006-07 to 2008-09) more than 31.44 lac water management related works have been completed with a total expenditure of 35.9 thousand crore (Sharma 2009). Of this maximum number of works was undertaken on water conservation & water harvesting.

                            The type of water management (WM) activities for which work can be funded (e.g. Water conservation, land development, afforestation, provision of irrigation systems or flood control) are prone to being taken over by wealthier sections of society.

WATER MANAGEMENT

It’s really a matter of supply and demand. While some areas experience flooding, others experience flooding, others experience crippling drought. So how do we make sure we have the right amount of water in the right places at the right times, keeping in mind that treating & transporting water accounts for 2-3% of the world’s energy consumption, & that in the developing countries, energy consumed to supply water may easily eat up half a municipality’s total budget? Well there’s no easy answer, but IT is a good place source, we must accurately measure it first. In addition, a region’s ability to share information has proved effective in other areas where water distribution is a constant struggle. For example, we’re working with Sonoma, California & Cape Cod, Massachusetts in US to create collaboration platforms for information sharing so that water managers can make better decisions about resource allocation. 

WATER MANAGEMENT

Regardless of industry or geography, smarter water management remains an issue faced by everyone on the planet. While the world’s population tripled in the 20^th century, use of renewable water resources has grown six fold. Within the next fifty years, the world population is expected to increase by another 40-50%. With this growth coupled with ever-growing industrialization & urbanization-demand for water could soon outpace the supply. There is a socioeconomic cost associated with water shortage or lack of access to clean, drinkable water. As per some estimates, for every percent of water that becomes unusable, 2000,000 jobs may be lost, which could lead to a 5.7% drop in disposable income on a per capita basis & a 5% increase in government spending. Also, a lack of usable water would have a negative impact across all industries & in all corners of the world. Water deficits, whi8ch are already spurring heavy grain imports in numerous smaller countries, may soon do the same in larger countries like India & China.

WATER MANAGEMENT

It said that water would be the cause of wars in the coming years.
While many people operate on the assumption that water will always be available at affordable rates, and in abundant supplies, the grim truth is that we will likely be hit by a water crisis in the near future. In a book by Charles Fishman ‘The Big Thirst’ tells the story of the small town of Orme, Tennessee, which literally ran out of water in the summer of 2007, prompting the mayor to limit town residents’ water use to a mere three hours of water service per day for months. And every few days, Orem’s fire truck was driven down the road to Bridgeport, Alabama, to fill up its 1,5000-gallon tank, replenishing the town water supply.
Barcelona, Spain, experienced a similar crisis in the spring of 2008, & in 2010, a drought in southwest China left 1 million people without water for themselves or for their 8 million head of livestock. And even today, despite the fact that India experienced a mind-boggling rate of modernization, not one of its major cities provides 24-hours-a-day water, most providing just one or two hours of water a day to tens of million of residents.
Nearly every sector of the economy relies upon the availability of water & shortages could be economically devastating. Power plants, for example, use 201 billion gallons of water daily to generate electricity-that’s more than any other industry, & by most accounts, those numbers are unsustainable.

THE BIG BUSINESS OF POLLUTED AIR*

Edition-2
The certificates are so cheap because emissions trade has a loophole: the sale of indulgences between rich industrialized nations and the rest of the world.
With the money that German common people unknowingly invests in the emissions trade, RWE buys thousand of wood cookers sits in the dusty courtyard behind Patricia Cheelo house: a shiny, hexagonal, Knee-high drum of stainless steel punctured with air holes. All Cheelo needs is a few wooden sticks, which she places in the drum’s combustion chamber. She uses a pan that can be sealed very tightly.
Until recently, Cheelo required two huge sacks of charcoal each month to cook enough for herself, her children and her grandchildren. This would use up more than a third of her monthly income, approx. 28 euros. Thanks to the RWE cooker, which saves 80 per cent energy, Cheelo is now able to save 20 euros.

*By Malte Henk & Jurgen Schaefer

THE BIG BUSINESS OF POLLUTED AIR*

  Edition-1

On a particular day in June 2010, it is 15.64 euros. This is the sum that RWE pays for the right to release 1 tonne of CO2 through the chimneys of Niederaussem.

       The idea of putting a price tag on CO2 originated from the USA. In Kyoto, President Bill Clinton made emissions trading the condition for his ratification of the climate protection agreement. The USA wanted to buy its way out of its CO2 liability. The rest of world agreed-reluctantly-but to no avail. To date, the USA has refused to implement the decisions sanctioned in Kyoto.  On the other hand, the Europeans, who were against the trade in pollution rights, have been operating the World’s largest CO2 market since 2005.

        Emissions trading are based on the assumption that it is irrelevant where exactly in the world pollution reduced; & on the belief that governments cannot bring about the reduction as efficiently as the corporate sector.

      In order to turn polluted industrial air into a tradable commodity, governments have established an account of CO2 certificates for every major polluter in Europe. Each certificate represents the right to release 1 tonne of CO2. In 2010, RWE received about 15 million certificates for Niederaussem. This only covers about half its emissions. When the account is empty, man must either have Niederaussem output reduced-or buy more certificates.

*By Malte Henk & Jurgen Schaefer